Shell script to open files in a VirtualBox Windows guest from the Linux host

winopen

#!/bin/bash
# Based on http://tinyurl.com/jmze5lw with some additions
# Dependencies: detox wmctrl

# In your VM, share the root host location "/" in $DRIVE

SCRIPTPATH="$(basename "$0")"
VMNAME="WindowsXP"
DRIVE="E:"

# Start vm if not running already
if [ $(VBoxManage list runningvms | wc -l) = 0 ]; then
    VBoxManage startvm $VMNAME
    sleep 5s
fi

# Wait until graphics are available
until VBoxManage showvminfo $VMNAME | grep '"Graphics Mode": active/running' > /dev/null
do
    sleep 0.5s
done

for FILE in "$@"
do

    # Set a converted file path
    if echo $FILE | grep '^/' > /dev/null; then
        TARGETPATH=$FILE
    else
        TARGETPATH=$PWD'/'$FILE
    fi
    CLEANPATH=$(detox -vs utf_8 "$TARGETPATH" | tail -1 | awk '{print $NF}')
    WINPATH=$(echo $DRIVE$CLEANPATH | sed 's/\//\\/g')

    # Start application in VirtualBox
    VBoxManage guestcontrol "$VMNAME" run --exe "cmd.exe" --username "Vinicius Massuchetto" -- "cmd" "/c" $WINPATH &

    # Change window manager focus to VM
    wmctrl -a "$VMNAME"

done

This older blog post gives a similar script and discusses how to integrate it into the XDG Desktop Linux environment